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Parent Issue
Day
13
Month
October
Year
1881
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

It is estimated that 30,000 Americana ] have spent the summer in Europe. That means an expenditure in Europe i of at least $15,000,000. Cincinnati has already started a '■ dollar subscription for the purpose of ■ raising íunds to place a íirst-class bronze statue of the late President up011 the esplanade on Fif th street in that ( city. A similar movement would meet with prompt response in Chicago. - The following is a statement of the receipts and disbursements at the state treasurer's office for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1881: Balance on hand September 30, 1880, $1,578,643,01; receipts for the year, $2,607,288.07; disbursements for the year, $2,392,569.01 ; balance on hand September 30, 1881, $1,793,362.07. When General Garfield passed through Cleveland a year ago ha rode out to Lake View Cemetery, and, after talking cheerfully and philosophically of the beauty of the spot, said: "I think I shall make my home here, in the end." He is reported to have had a presentiment that death would come to him on an anniversary, and General 11. B. Mussey, of Ohio, is quoted as saying that he once told him he believed he should die on the 19th of September. It was the anniversary of the battle of Chickamauga. The following shows the condition of the state debt at the close of the fiscal year, ending Sept. 30, 1881: INTEREST-BEAllING BONDS. 'wo iniilion loan bonds- i's due January 1, 188S f590,000 00 Var bouuty loan bonds- 7's due May 1, 1890 299,000 00 Total $889,000 00 non" interest-bkabing dbbt. Ldjusted bonds, due January 1, 18B3 f8,000,00 Í2I.0U0 part paid five-million loan bonds, adjustable at $578,57 per $1,000 12,149 97 $15,149 97 Total bonded debt f904,149 87 The flglit ior some time expected between Ayub Khan and Abdurrahman Khan has conie off, and must make the English Liberáis again chuckle with satisfaction over the withdrawal Df the English army from the country. We attempted a week or two ago an Bxplanation of Afghan warfare. At tliat time Ayub Khan liad just coiné up from Herat, and defeated Abdurrahman, who was abandoned on the battle-üeld by a portion of his forces going over to the enemy. Ayub then had his own way for a while, but made no progress, and Abdurrahman got another army tfcgether; and now they have had another engagement, and this time a portion of Ayub's forces have deserted him, and he in turn has been defeated, and has had to retreat to Herat. And so the game will go on until the weather gets too cold for active operationa; and so it has been going on ever since the days of Alexancier the Great. It would be an amusing game if it were not that England has just been trying to stop it at a cost of many thousand lives and over $100,000,000, and that the Minister who thought he had made Afghanistan íhto "a strong, friendly, and independent" monarchy is still mourned by the Conservatives as a prodigious loss to the country. One is reminded by renewed mention of the humble but devoted bequest of the late Dr. 8, Ilabel to the Smithsonian Institution, in Prof. Baird's report for 1880, how singularly this beneücient agency has been overlooked by liberal givers ever since itg foundation. Fifteen hundred dollars, yielding six per cent., is, we believe, the total endowment apart from Sinithson's bequest and the Government subventions; and accordingly ninety dollars is solemnly dedicated to the annual prosecution of ethnological and archoeological research. The sum of $350k000 is needed to raise the endowment to $1,000,000. Meantime, however, the National Museum has been built to Prof. Baird's entire satisfaction, at a cost of "less than $3 per square foet of ground Hoor," or "about six cents per cubic foot of capacity." The Centennial and other collections in the Armory Building are being transferral to the Museum, but the Armory will still be used as a sort of storage and lumber room.particularly in connection with the IL S. FishCommission. The cost of the international exchauges of which the Bmithsonian is the medium has grown with the business itself till now it is nearly $10,000 a year, and Congress is to be approached with a request for a special appropriation to meet this invaluable outlay. In the enumeration of accessions to the Museum it is remarked that Mr. F. A. Ober's collection makes the "series of West Indian birds by far the most complete of any in existence." The same can nearly be said of Mr. W. G. Binney's addition by gift to the American Land Shells. Of exeeptional interest when repaired and put in good shape will be the late George Catlin's collection of Indian paintings and customs. The archives of the Centennial Commissionof 1876 are to be deposited in the Museum. Probably no other instituten in the world observes the practiee of the Smithsonian (established by Prof. Henry) of stereotyping or electrotyping everything published by it. The wisdom of this from a commercial point of view has often been discussed, but that nothing should be allowed to get out of print seems a sound principie when "the diffusion of knowledge" is the sole object. The Baseball season isclosed and the league clubs have made the follwing record : Venerable war-horses who did valiant service during the Ilebellion are as plentü'ul as General Washington's body-servants, but there is no occasion for cavilling over the remains of "Dixie Bill," which were consigned to their final resting-place, in Des Moines, Iowa, last SatuWKy evening, with military honors, in the presence oL many moúrners. Dixie Bill was captured from the Rebels at the battle of Wilson Creek, August 10, 1861, by Henry" Banke8, of the Iowa Hundred Day Alen. Ile subsequently became the property of Colonel HilJ, of the 35th Iowa Regiment, who was afterwards killed while in the act of mounting hini. After that he was sold to the Adjutant of the 3í5d Missouri llegiment, but was bought back by Chaplain William Bagley, oL the 35th Iown, and followed the fortunes of that regiment during the rest of the war. For years he has been one of the most respectad inhabitants of Des Moines, and his grave has now been made on M r. Bagley's lawn in that city. Dixie Bill was in his thirty-second year when he died, and besides that title to distinction he carried four scars of honorable service. The Stars and Stripes were buried with him, and another flag lloats ver his &ca,ve. Garfield's Masonic History.-J.Hope Sutton, of Zanesville, Ohio, fuinislies the following facts in reference to the late President Garfield'i masonic history: "Garfleld was made a Masón in Magnoli i Lodge, No. 20, at Columbus, Ohio, Nov. 22, 1861, while he wascomcnanda-itat Camp Chase. His afliliations at the time of his deaih were with Pentalpha Lodge, No. 23 and Columbia Commandery, No. 2, Knights Templar, at Washington, D. C. Sutton says he was the eighth Masori, but the flrst Knight Templar who was ever honored with the Tresidency. He was a true and courteous Knight, ad was not on yaa earnest supporter, but a charter member of Pentalpha Lodse. Af ter his election to the dency his commandfry sought to express their esteem tor him by attending the inauguration, and, althougli the Masonic law forbids any interfcrence with, or participation in politics, the occasion was regarded by R. E. Grand Commander as sufficiently important and devoid of partisan coloring togrant the desired permission for five platoons of sixteen Kniglits each to attend. President G.irfield, on the 19th of July, 1881, was elected an honorary member of Ilanselmann Commandery, No. 16, at Cincinnati, andthey sent liini handsomely engraved resolutions of sympathy, which were brouglit to his personal notice during his sickness, to which he appropriately replied throagh his private secretary."

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Old News
Ann Arbor Democrat